Alan Turner's tribute to Kenny Rogers coming to RRCA Friday

One of country music legend Kenny Rogers’ opening performers and friends is coming to Monroe.

Alan Turner and his full band travel the country, offering their tribute to Rogers. At 7:30 p.m. Dec. 9, “The Gambler Returns: The Ultimate Kenny Rogers Tribute Show” is coming to the River Raisin Centre for the Arts, 114 S. Monroe St.

Tickets ranges from $15 to $39 and can be purchased at the box office, by calling 734-242-7722 and at riverraisincentre.org. The show is sponsored by Floral City Beverage, Durocher’s and Quality Inn and Suites.

The concert will showcase many of Rogers’ greatest hits from six decades and some Christmas songs, including “The Gambler,” “Lady,” “Islands in the Stream,” “Lucille,” “She Believes in Me,” “Go Tell it on the Mountain,” “Let It Snow” and “The 12 Days of Christmas.”

Rogers, who died in 2020, was a Grammy Award-winning country music superstar who sold more than 120 million albums. He was known for his storytelling and distinctive voice.

Turner’s tribute aims to recreate the feeling of a live Kenny Rogers concert.

“Kenny's music reaches multiple generations because the man behind it was such a kind soul, and people, I think, are drawn to music that is real and coming from someone's heart,” Turner said. “His style of telling stories and presenting the music from deep within always appealed to me. What I hear from the audience is how authentic the show is and how it brings back all those memories of seeing Kenny in the past. They thank me for keeping his music alive. With some six decades of hits, it is hard to be able to play them all, obviously, but we focus on the big ones.”Turner, of the metro Detroit area, is a lifelong performer and songwriter. But it was a gift from his father that made him a Rogers fan.

“My father was a singer and used to bounce me on his knees and sing to me,” Turner said. “My mother taught me how to play piano and read music. My father passed away just before my 10th birthday, and the last gift I received from him was the vinyl record ‘The Gambler’ by Kenny Rogers. That music had a big impact on my life and was the source of my love for country music.”

In the 1980s, Turner was in a rock band. But, while his children were young, he gave up music and worked as a financial adviser.

“I married at age 18 and raised five children. We now have 11 grandkids, with a 12th on the way,” Turner said.

Fifteen years ago, a musician friend coaxed him back into the music business.

“I started a band that focused on my original country music, which was certainly inspired by my father and the music of my musical hero, Kenny Rogers,” Turner said.

In 2010, he got to open for Rogers in Las Vegas.

“I shared with him my story backstage, and he was genuinely interested, and we became friends,” Turner said. “It's nice when you meet your ‘hero,’ and they turn out to be all you expected and more.”

In 2014, Turner signed a production deal in Nashville. Rogers’ attorney looked over the contract for free.

“He wanted to make sure we were being treated fairly. Kenny was very kind to me. I was actually in the process of signing with his publicist, Kirk Webster, in 2017 at the time of his retirement party in 2017.”

While that deal didn’t work out, Turner remained in the music business. It was COVID and Rogers’ death that inspired the tribute show.

“I never planned to do a tribute show,” Turner said. “It was something I decided to do after I began to feel I had pretty much accomplished what I sought out to do with my original music. It was during the COVID lockdown the band and I were pretty much forced to stop performing. After hearing the news the morning after Kenny Rogers’ passing in March of 2020, I approached my band about the idea,” Turner said. “I knew Rogers’ music all my life. In fact he was one of the inspirations for why I pursued country music, and I thought that it would be a nice way to honor someone who had been so kind to me in this music business.”

The show has been a success and is even saving Turner some money.

“For years I had been dying my hair to look younger for Nashville. Now I could stop and grow it out a bit to try and pull off the look. The good news is that in these inflationary times, I'm saving $65 a month not having to buy ‘Just For Men’ anymore,” Turner said.

The performer has been nominated for several awards and won Outstanding Country Recording in 2019 for his song “Tennessee Twister.” He performed on the Grand Ole Opry stage in 2018. Earlier this year he was inducted into the Michigan Country Music Hall of Fame and the European Country Music Hall of Fame.

Today, Turner performs about 100 or more shows a year.

“The tribute is a newer project, but, for the last year and a half, has made up about half of those performances. It is quickly growing to be a larger portion of what I am doing,” Turner said.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Alan Turner's tribute to Kenny Rogers coming to RRCA